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Before throwing the two-state solution onto the garbage heap of history, we would be wise to consider the long and difficult path that led to acceptance of this solution, eliminating the zerosum nature of the conflict. Indeed, the idea of two states evolved out of a good deal of internal discussion and dissent within the Palestinian national movement, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and even longerterm rejection by the government of Israel. At the core was a basic identity issue that denied legitimacy of each side's right to statehood. Palestinians viewed Jews as belonging to a religion rather than a nation (deserving of selfdetermination) and Zionism as a colonial movement that usurped the land and expelled its rightful, historic owners. In a mirror image, the mainstream of the Zionist movement viewed the Palestinians not as a people (nation) but rather as merely a part of the broader Arab nation that had migrated into historic Palestine over the centuries, usurping the (exclusive) Jewish right to the land. So went the narratives on both sides. The denial of the other's nationhood remains in many circles on both sides; nevertheless, there were those who gradually placed the discourse on a more pragmatic level with the idea of a two-state solution.
The PLO's movement towards accepting a two-state solution
A detailed, authoritative account of the PLO's consideration and gradual acceptance of the idea can be found in Yezid Sayigh's monumental volume, The Armed Struggle and Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement 1949-1993. Fateh, the largest party in the PLO (after joining the organization in 1969) set as its goal "the establishment of an independent democratic state with complete sovereignty on all Palestinian lands, and Jerusalem is its capital city, and protecting the citizens' legal and equal rights without any racial or religious discrimination," according to Article 13 of the Fateh Constitution. This was popularly referred to as a secular, democratic state, to be established in all of Palestine once "the Zionist state is demolished and Palestine is completely liberated" (Article 19, http:// www.mideastweb.org/fateh.htm#Goals').
Discussions and debates within the PLO were to change this gradually, with Nayif Hawatmeh, head of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) arguing for the idea of a state in the territories...